Airman guilty of refusing vaccination

ABILENE {AP} A Dyess Air Force Base airman pleaded guilty in military court Friday for refusing to submit to an anthrax vaccination.

Airman Brent Rogers, 20, who rejected the mandatory vaccine twice, pleaded guilty to disobeying an order and making himself unavailable for deployment.

Under a plea agreement, he has been sentenced to 21 days confinement and will be docked $500 in pay, said Lt. Wes Ticer, a base spokesman. He also will receive a non-punitive administrative discharge from the Air Force, Ticer said.

The administrative discharge at the end of his confinement was "very important to him," said Rogers' attorney, Capt. Sandra Kent.

Rogers is a New York state native, Ticer said, but he had no hometown for the airman.

Another airman at the base has also refused the procedure, but authorities said no action had been taken against him yet.

Anthrax is an infectious bacterial disease that can be used in biological warfare, and more than 1,300 Dyess personnel have received the vaccination.

As many as 300 servicemen have cited health concerns in refusing the inoculation.